Our banter felt a little wrong—the way we felt a little wrong. And that wrong felt perfectly right in that moment. I knew the upside down version of my world wouldn’t last long, so I didn’t try to fix it. I just let it be whatever it was meant to be.

A little wrong. A little right.

Just … us.

“Bye.” I took one step back, then another.

Fisher shook his head, but his smile made the bigger statement as he shut his door and put his truck into drive. I pressed my fingers to my lips and kissed them, blowing it to him. He winked and drove out of the driveway.

“Oh, naked fisherman … this is going to hurt.” I crossed my hands over my chest to comfort my heart. Who was I kidding? I knew I was already too invested in him. And even if I also knew I would have to let us end when Rory returned, it still hurt. Even if Fisher didn’t share the same emotions, I knew he would always be my first love—that really good kind of love where my brain had no say. The kind with no logical explanation. The kind that took a special place in my heart as first.

God willing, I would go on to love another. Have a family. And die in the arms of my husband. But … first would always be Fisher Mann.

* * *

Hailey wasn’t feeling well, so I went to work. I delivered lunch to the roofers.

“Thanks. You must be Reese.” A guy with black hair and a major suntan smiled at me; it made his teeth stark white.

“Yes.” I handed him the sacks of food and slipped my hands into the back pockets of my jeans.

He inspected the sacks and smiled a little. I ignored his smirk, his unspoken observation. “I’m Jeremiah. Hailey was telling me about you.” He peeled his eyes from the big sacks filled with little sacks.

Jeremiah was hot. That wasn’t really up for debate. I could see why Hailey thought I’d like him.

“Funny, she might have mentioned you to me as well.” I tried to control my grin.

“I missed her party. I heard you were there … alone.”

“Yeah, I was.”

He glanced over my shoulder. “I’d better get to eating my lunch. Bossman’s here.”

I twisted my body and squinted at the white truck and Bossman climbing out. Aviators on. He sipped something red from the straw of a big plastic cup from a convenience store.

“Boss,” Jeremiah said.

“Jeremiah,” Fisher said in a fairly neutral tone.

“Can I get your number from Hailey later?” Jeremiah asked me as if Fisher wasn’t hearing every word. “We could hangout this weekend if you don’t have plans. My parents have a place near Breckenridge.”